Infrastructure Alert - January 15, 2013

The $50.7 billion Hurricane Sandy relief package is currently being debated in the House.  Monday night, the Rules Committee approved 13 amendments for floor consideration.  After neglecting to schedule a vote on an aid package that had been approved by the Senate in the last Congress, the House rushed to pass a $9.7 billion bill to bolster the federal flood insurance fund and is now hashing out the rest of the package.

The $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is now officially half-complete.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that American ports are spending between $6 billion and $8 billion annually in local, private and federal funding in preparation for increased maritime activity and deeper draft vessels as a result of the expanded Panama Canal, and foreign ports are rushing to do the same.